Preening?

I am new to this site and raising chickens. This may sound stupid to some of you but I need to know, there are a lot of feathers on the floor of the coop and in the run. Are he chicks preening or could it be something else? The chicks are about 10 weeks old.

They are into what will be one of the three feather sets they go through during the first year of life. If they are between four and about 8 weeks they are molting chick feathers and replacing them with juvenile feathers,

Make every effort to understand your chicken's biology and the environment that supports it.

Thanks for answering me. I can show pics of my birds under my hubby's name.... lol I cant remember what I used for my password to use the regular computer. I have 12 chicks... 3 austrolorps, 6 amber links, and 3 red sexlinks. I had 3 austrolorp roos, but heard they are really noisy. My hubby doesn't want any roos right now since we don't have room or raising baby chicks yet.

Your birds are on the tail end of replacing the first (chick) feather set. Shortly after that is complete they will then begin replacing the second (juvenile) feather set which is still coming in. If you look at your bird's wings while held outstretched, you will note a pattern in their replacement.

Make every effort to understand your chicken's biology and the environment that supports it.